Readers respond to Question of the Week:

Is the fire this time a different inferno?

Wildfire devastation in Southern California

I remember as a child living in Highland Park that during the fall we could see the bulldozers clearing the fire breaks on our foothills. We used to watch from the playground during recess at school. There also used to be teams of I believe prisoners who would clear the underbrush on the foothills.I don’t know when the state budget cut these programs, but it seems to me it is a big mistake.

Fire breaks work. They slow down the spread of fire. Ask any fireman if clearing the underbrush helps. Of course it does. It’s so sad that the politicians have decided to cut the measures that protect our population. I don’t understand. Bring back the bulldozers and brush clearing and there would be less fire danger in Southern California.

But we might have to give up the bullet train.

— Peggy Hibbs, Monrovia

Yes, state leaders need to refocus their priorities

Sadly for our one-party California, unrepentant and lacking in self-criticism, nothing is learned and nothing will change. California has voted for $50 million to fight President Trump and billions for the train from nowhere to nowhere. Another example, the 5-inch smelt is more important than Californians. No preventive underbrush burns, no new reservoirs, decreasing fire department budgets policies continue unabated.

Two years of heavy rains and thus excess vegetation plus no rain since May plus heavy winds created predictable extreme fire conditions. California must get off its smug high horse and stop virtue signaling.

California must humble itself and completely refocus to prevention and fighting expected fires. With haughty self assured leaders like Gov. Newsom or scripted party-line loyalists like Mayor Bass, change is impossible.

— Burton Roseman, Van Nuys

Yes, this fire is a different inferno

The California wildfire areas look like war zones. We need a major overall of our whole firefighting system. We need a state and/or federal investigation into the causes and future prevention of these super fires.

— Richard Metzger, Porter Ranch